The Art of Being Unstoppable (ONE SHOT)
by sailorillyana
Summary: Setsuna Meioh is one of the next of two Time Guardians, but when things go horribly wrong, she is forced to do much more than she thought. Against all odds, she must stay strong. R&R please!


**Author's Note**: This is meant to be a prelude of sorts to the reasons Pluto is a lone guardian. I hope you like it. :)

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Time can be such a funny thing. The funniest part? It doesn't stop for anyone. Well, it doesn't stop because we don't let it. That's what is referred to as one of the three Taboo. Every person that has ever protected the Time door, as well as the flow of Time and Space, has hailed from my planet. Pluto. It's always been a lonely planet, Neptune was our only companion and it was millions of miles away. But, of course, it was home.

"Setsuna!" My father's deep voice echoed throughout the castle. Speaking with my father was always such a sad affair; my friends played with their fathers, called them papa, and always had fond memories of them. But me? My father was one of the two reigning Guardians of Time, and even the day I was born, we were all business. Formalities were the only thing allowed to be spoken in his presence. I rushed to his throne as quickly as I could, my head down. "Setsuna." He began, "You know that one day you will take over as Guardian of Time, correct?"

I nodded my head but kept it down. "Yes, father. I will take your place and my new sibling, whenever they are conceived and born, will take my uncle's place."

He patted my head, "Yes, but you know that you will not take a husband, correct?"

"Yes, father. I know." I never understood that law. It struck me as odd that only male Time Guardians had ever been able to take wives. There have been female Guardians in the past, and only one took a husband, but it lead to her losing her position and then being killed for 'betraying her Duty' or whatever. My mother told me many stories about her sister. The traitor. My aunt. My father took her place.

"So what's this I hear about you and a boy at your school?" He seemed to stare through me, and it was a bit irritating.

I would have rolled my eyes if he wouldn't have chastised me for it. "Hikaru is only a friend, father. I have many of those, male and female." Hikaru was beautiful, and he was kind, but I knew much better than that. He did, too. His parents were present at the execution of my aunt, and they told him the horror stories.

"Good." He smiled, satisfied with my reply. "Your tea is ready in the south garden, dear. Treat yourself to some, won't you? Father has royal duties to attend to."

I have always loved my father, his strict laws and all. Maybe it was to help my mother cope – she forced herself to love him as well. I helped keep up the façade for her; it kept both of us sane. He was just so cruel. There were many Time Guardians, but my father turned out to be the reincarnation of the God of Time, Chronos. They discovered such after hundreds of years of research on what happened to Chronos and mathematical structures on when he would arise again, which came to be about the time of my father's birth. According to the things my mother and uncle – my mother's brother and the other reigning Guardian of Time – have told me, his ego was already large enough, and the discovery only lead to it being further inflated. Most days were unbearable, but we got through them.

I exited out the castle doors and into the gardens. It was a brisk negative 235 degrees Celcius and my eyes adjusted easily to the darkness of our distant planet. I recalled then how I once traveled to the moon with my father, and we met up with the beautiful Queen Serenity, who ruled over the Silver Millennium. She had just birthed her only daughter, bearing the same name. It was much warmer there, and much brighter. Mother, father, and I had to don special suits that would keep our body temperatures low and special masks that would both convert the air into breathable gas for us while also blocking the sun rays. The gardens there were far superior and beautiful compared to ours, which were a pathetic display at best. We had moons, too, but they were nothing like the moon of the Earth, with its all-encasing beauty and the castle and the city, it was all so breath-taking.

I took a seat on a bench in the garden, staring off into space, warming my hands with the tea cup. We could not even see the sun from there, as great and as bright as it is, let alone the moon. I longed to see it again, though I was not sure when I would ever have the chance. Once I took the position as Guardian of Time, I would be alone for decades at a time, in a place unknown to anyone who has never been a Guardian of Time. The arrangement, those days, was to have two Guardians, usually siblings, who would each protect the Door for 50 years at a time. It was why, when my aunt died, my father took the throne. She was my mother's sister, but my mother had already married at that point and Guardian Law followed that my father would take her place, as they had no other siblings. That's just how it was.

I took a sip of my green tea and sighed, knowing that it is meant to be brewed at much, much higher temperatures. But such temperatures were not possible on Pluto, and were essentially fatal. I heard the doors of the palace open and my mother, in all her beauty and grace, glided towards me.

"Setsuna, my dear. I knew I'd find you out here." She sat next to me on the bench, her dress flowing out beneath her and her green hair blowing with the wind. Everyone always told us how alike we looked, and a lot of it was due to our height – we were quite tall – and our dark green hair. "How's your tea? You know, I don't know how you drink that, it tastes like dirt from Earth! And your father spends so much importing it from there, too." Money, ugh. We only started using the system when we became allied with Earth and the Moon. She sighed, "Anyway, I thought I should tell you – I believe I am pregnant again. Isn't it exciting?!"

"I'm so happy!" I said cheerfully, "I hope it's a boy. I'd love a little brother."

"Me too, dear." Her fingers brushed my hair away from my face, "You are so grown up for a 17 year old." She then became slightly concerned, "Although, I do fear for future political prospects. It seems as though there is something going on on Neptune. We're not sure what, though." Sighing, my mother rose to her feet. "I'm sure everything will be okay! I have things I must get back to, but I just thought I should tell you." She kissed me on the top of my head and then made her way back into the palace. _A little sibling. A companion. That'll be nice._

I only recently turned 17, according to Earthly calculations – our alliance with them lead to a lot of accommodation on our part – and it was odd that my mother considered me a fully-fledged 17 year old already. It felt no different than 16, or any other age really. Then again, on Pluto we lived to be tens of thousands of years old. It mattered, considering that's where Time Guardians came from and all. In terms of actual Plutonian years, I would technically not even be a tenth of a year old. Of course, age was never important on Pluto. Just another conversation topic.

I finished my entire pot of tea before I rose to my feet. My dress was too long and frilly for a casual walk through the city, but I _needed _to get away from that stupid palace. It was a short walk to the actual city, "downtown," I guess you'd call it, mostly due to the sheer small size of our planet and the fact that our palace sat just outside of it.

There were a lot of people around, out and about. The difference between our planet and the moon is there's no light. None. Because we are so far from the sun, we evolved with vision that caused us to see it total darkness. We have a lot of differences, but that's the one that bothers most of our visitors, as rare as they are.

Thinking of the moon, with its craters and white-silver shine, always made me nostalgic. Oh, how I wanted to go back there so much.

I was pulled from my thoughts upon hearing my name being called. "Setsuna! Hey, what are you doing in your princess clothes?" I could feel my face get hot as I looked up at the boy who was speaking to me.

"Hikaru! Hi. I was out in the gardens and felt like a walk, but didn't feel like changing." I shrugged nervously. "Laziness strikes again."

The boy, somehow taller than me, chuckled, his bright eyes vibrant against the darkness of his skin. "You're so cute, Setsuna."

_Cute? _"Thanks! I think..." Yeah, super suave, Setsuna.

"Don't worry, it definitely was a compliment." He winked. I felt like I was melting, even with the stories of my aunt's execution playing in the back of my mind. "So, have you heard about what's going on on Neptune?"

My eyes traveled to the ground, where they felt safest, and I thought about it for a bit. "My mom mentioned something, but said that it would be fine and brushed it off. What's going on?"

"Saturn." It was all he had to say for me to know what he meant. In the solar system, Saturn was the planet of Destruction. Their political state was the best, even better than that of the Moon kingdom, so the Queen declared herself the decision-maker for the rest of the solar system. If the Queen of Saturn decided your planet was going to go under or wasn't doing well politically, she sent a soldier to destroy it. The solar system used to have 10 planets, but one was destroyed when its citizens began to revolt. The reports were horrifying. They even showed pictures... It was traumatizing. I didn't even realize that I had been so silent until he gave me a weird look. "Setsuna? Are you all right?"

"Yeah, it's just... Neptune is so close, you know? You've gotta wonder if that might happen here." I got an uncomfortable pang in my stomach.

Hikaru shrugged nonchalantly, "Your dad's egotistical, but he's not a terrible ruler. I'm sure it'll be fine." He gave me a hopeful smile, but it still had an air of sadness behind it. I knew why, of course. We had known each other since our births, and have loved each other for equally as long, but no one was allowed to know that, and no one could ever find out. It alone had the potential to lead to both of our deaths. Life just couldn't be fair. At least if Pluto came to an end, we could spend its last moments together. It was the only way we would ever have it. I crossed my arms to stop our hands from continuing to bump into one another.

We walked along for a bit before he took a look around and then turned to me, "Hey, can I show you something?" I was a bit taken aback by this, wondering if there was any part of Pluto I hadn't seen since my birth, but I complied.

"Impress me, if you can." _Christ, Setsuna. Really?_ He started to walk ahead of me at that point, his pace quickening. "That's not fair," I complained, "Your legs are longer!"

"I'm trying to impress you!" He shouted back as the distance between us grew. I decided to go ahead and run, or else I'd get left in the dust. I hiked up my skirt and took off my shoes to make it easier to catch up with him, and put my physical training to the test.

Just as I picked up speed, he stopped and stared over this open meadow. "I've... I've never seen this before."

"Of course not," he said triumphantly. "My dad cleared the area and planted flowers over the last few days. Only we know about it so far, and I thought it would be a good place to... hang out."

I bit my lip and, feeling slightly liberated from the laws of the land, I grabbed his hand. "That sounds really great."

We moved into the meadow and took a spot on the ground. "It's so sad," he whispered softly as he moved to put his arm around my waist, "I have loved you for so long, and yet our love is forbidden."

"And I, you," was all I could reply with. He had no idea the way his words twisted my stomach and made me feel so many emotions all at once.

He whispered my name just before pressing his lips into mine. It felt almost euphoric, and I didn't think I could experience anything more wonderful. The feelings only grew as his hands found their way to my hair. It was amazing, plain and simple.

We spent the rest of the day talking, complaining, ranting, and even kissing... every now and then... well, more than we did all the rest of those things. But, of course, I had to go home.

"Setsuna!" My mother ran to me as soon as I got into the palace. "Setsuna, dear, I have some exciting news!" She seemed... nervous, and it was thinly veiled with a fake smile. "Queen Serenity sent word that her daughter is starting to grow up and she would really love for you two to formally meet! Isn't it great?"

Her demeanor bothered me, but who was I to question a trip to the moon? "I get to go to the moon?! That is great! When am I leaving?"

"In a few hours." My heart almost stopped. Hikaru and I promised to meet again at that secluded spot the next day, but I'm leaving so soon, and I won't have that chance.

"Why so soon? Surely I can wait to go tomorrow night?" I pressed.

"No, Setsuna. You are going tonight and that is final. Your friends are not going to go anywhere; they'll be here when you get back." She swept away, leaving me to pack, to worry, and, for Hikaru's sake, to cry.

The last one began as soon as I closed my bedroom door behind me. What was the meaning of all of this? Why are they sending me away so soon? Does it have anything to do with what's going on on Neptune? Most importantly, I knew they wouldn't let me say goodbye to Hikaru, even if I swore we were only friends. He was going to think I stood him up tomorrow... he's going to be so angry with me, and I had no one I could trust to relay the news to him.

Tears streaming down my cheeks, I began to put my clothes and special suits into a suitcase. I changed out of my slightly dirty dress into one of my suits, realized that I got lucky that my mother didn't say anything about the dirt stains on the dress, and sat down on my bed for the remaining two hours before my mother and father showed up to send me off.

"Come, Setsuna. We'll see you off in the south garden." I rose to my feet slowly and approached them, fake smiles adorning their faces.

We walked quietly to the garden, and I carried my own things, refusing to allow one of the servants to do it for me. I was too angry and didn't want to give my parents a reason to think my hands were free enough for hugs. We arrived at the south garden, where I was just earlier that day, and I walked in front of my parents. "Bye," was all I said. I let them say nothing by immediately following it up, "Pluto Planet Power, teleport!"

I landed just outside of the Moon palace only moments later. Teleporting through space is only possible when a Time Guardian opens a small rift in time, and I was lucky that my father was one of them, because otherwise the trip would've taken much, much longer. The sun was in the sky and Earth was beautiful – daytime here on the moon. Queen Serenity and her young daughter, around 8 at the time, came down the castle steps.

"Setsuna, dear!" The Queen gave me a hug, "It's so nice to see you. You've grown up so much! How old are you on Earth now?"

I shrugged, "Seventeen! And this must be Princess Serenity!" Her hair was blonde, unlike her mother's, but they had the same style: two odangos perched on the top of their heads, with hair flowing out from them. "I remember visiting you when you were just born."

The shy princess hid behind her mother and nervously played with the wings on the Queen's back. Serenity, softly laughing at her young daughter, turned back toward Setsuna, "She's growing up so fast. She becomes quite the lady everyday."

"I'm happy to hear that, Queen Serenity. She looks so much like you."

Suddenly remembering her manners, the Queen sighs, "Oh, Setsuna, dear. Come inside. We'll have green tea and cookies and we'll catch up."

_Warm green tea! _I was excited at the prospect, "Okay!" I was able to change out of my suit and into more comfortable clothes when we entered the castle, the atmosphere bearable enough for my body, although I did have to wear special glasses to minimize the effect of the lights. Servants and other members of the matriarchy's government were not used to Plutonians on the moon, with our dark skin and odd glasses, but I, however, was used to the strange stares from them all.

When we sat down for tea, I took a sip of it, and then looked at the Queen with an intense expression. "Queen Serenity, with all due respect, can you please tell me why I was sent here so suddenly? Mother said you sent word for me to visit, but why did I have to come so soon?"

The Queen nearly dropped her teacup and put her hand over her heart, "They didn't tell you, did they?"

The air flow to my lungs all but stopped. "What do you mean?"

She sat up straighter, her silver hair settling just behind her shoulders, and her eyes locked with mine. "I'm sure you know of the problems on Neptune, with the citizen uprisings and the assassination of their queen." They assassinated their queen? "Her daughter, Michiru, was able to escape and is on the moon as well. Saturn has decided to destroy it, and we fear that your planet may be next." She sighed sadly before continuing, "Your planet is the only one that does not have a Matriarchy, and as such, many of the citizens are finding that maybe life on other planets would be more suitable for them." She paused, "Or that your father's rule should come to an end prematurely. Of course, if the citizens decide to take the latter position, Saturn will destroy your planet with no qualms about it."

I almost didn't realize the tears stinging my eyes, "And everyone thinks they will decide to kill my father." The Queen nodded sadly. "And my mother, true to her Queen duties, will stay by his side. I can't believe her. She hates him!" I completely lost my manners at this point, "She hates him, and yet she's going to die with him! What a coward! She is such a coward!"

"Setsuna, please calm down." Her voice was soothing and understanding, but I couldn't. I didn't know how to handle the news.

"I hate my father. I only ever pretended to love him for my mother's sake, and because of him and his pathetic ego, my mother and unborn sibling are going to die. And my friends..." I stood up from the table, sobbing now. "I'm sorry, Queen, I think I'm going to cut this short and go to my room." In truth, my mind had wondered to Hikaru, and the fact that he, too, shall die, and I knew that these feelings were not reconcilable.

My heart broke with every memory of him. I fell onto my bed face-first and began to sob. _It isn't fair, it isn't fair. It's not_. We wouldn't have ever been together anyway, but at least he would still be alive. This way, he doesn't even have a chance at happiness, and that was maybe the one thing I'd always wanted for him. I didn't even tell my mother I loved her.

I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep until I heard the door to my room open the next morning. I sat up and, before opening my eyes, reached for my glasses. When I was finally able to see properly, I saw the Queen and Princess peeking through the door. "Come in," I croaked.

Queen Serenity was carrying a tray and some food and Princess Serenity was carrying a stuffed animal. "I brought this for you, Mommy said you were sad," she said, putting it next to me on the bed before retreating to hiding behind her mother once again.

"Why thank you," I said to her, tears still in my voice. The Queen set the tray down on the bedside table. "Oh, Queen Serenity, you didn't have to do this for me."

She took a seat next to me on the bed and put her arm around my shoulder, leaving the Princess to run out of the room. "Setsuna, dear, I know that you have only just found out how much you are losing, and it is normal for you to be upset. It's my pleasure to make you as comfortable as possible while you deal with everything that's on your plate. Take your time with breakfast and, when you're ready, we will take a carriage ride around the city and I'll show you all my favorite spots. I'm sure you'll remember more now that you're older." She smiled and, giving me a kiss on my temple, departed.

We left for the city an hour later. I decided that it would only resolve to upset me more if I stayed in all day, so I figured that I might as well get out and at least try to forget. We stopped by her prayer room first. I was not allowed in, for only Queen Serenity was permitted, but she described what it looks like and the sort of energy she felt. _I'll have a place like that when I get back to Pluto,_ I thought bitterly.

There was a great fountain in the central-most part of the kingdom and it was so beautiful. I stuck my hand out to feel the water, though it was through my suit, and I suddenly remembered the gardens that I could not wait to visit later that evening. "It's all more beautiful than I recall," I told the Queen as I climbed back into the carriage to continue touring the kingdom.

"The moon has only become more gorgeous as time has passed. I'm not sure how, and I rule over it." She giggled.

She could be cruel sometimes, it's in the job description of ruling over an entire kingdom, but the Queen was such a gentle soul. It had always warmed my heart how loving she could be. Princess Serenity was bouncing up and down in her seat and pointing at various feats of the city that she loved.

Later that evening, I was enjoying the beauty and scent of the garden when I heard someone quickly approaching me. I snapped around and saw Queen Serenity, tears in her eyes, running to me on the bench. "I'm so sorry," was all she said, and I knew what she was talking about. My people revolted. My father is dead, and possibly my mother. My planet will be destroyed and, with it, Hikaru. It took a moment, but I finally broke down into pieces. The Queen held me as I sobbed into her neck, my entire world almost literally crashing around me. I cried for my mother, for my unborn sibling, and mostly, for Hikaru: the boy I wanted nothing more than to love.

After a while, I pulled away from her, "But, what about my uncle? What about the Time Guardians?"

Queen Serenity mopped up my cheeks with a silk handkerchief and sighed, "Your uncle will finish out his rule. When he dies, you will take his place, and you will be a lone soldier."

I shook my head, "All alone... How can I spend my entire life alone? I won't even ever see a soul... I'll just spend my life in front of a door. It's such an important job, but why me? And why alone?"

The Queen held me tighter, "I know, it sounds so awful. But I have faith in you, everyone does and always will. I promise that you will find a way, you will be strong. You are an unstoppable force, Setsuna, and you will continue to be such. I believe in that." Michiru, princess of Neptune, overheard the exchange and came to sit with us, and she and I shared our pain through tears long into the evening, wondering if our souls would ever truly heal.

It would take years before I finally assumed my position as Time Guardian. I was 403 at the time, in fact, and I still ached for all those I lost so long ago. I simultaneously discovered that I was a reincarnation of Sailor Pluto, an outer senshi and protector of the solar system from outside enemies. It was so fitting. I was there to see the dissemination of the Silver Moon Kingdom, and was forced to escape to Uranus with Michiru until it was over.

When Princess Serenity ascended to the throne, centuries later, she and her King, who had been the Prince of Earth during the Silver Millennium, came to introduce themselves.

King Endymion stepped out from the time door and my heart skipped a beat. He reminded me so much of the love I once had, with his bright eyes and dark hair and lovely smile. "Hello, Sailor Pluto, I am King Endymion. It's a pleasure to meet you." He bowed deeply before stepping back, allowing his wife to come forward.

"Sailor Pluto, it's been so long." She hugged me, throwing out the usual rules for greetings of the land. "I'm so glad you're guarding the Time Door. I hope I can come visit you from time to time, when my royal duties don't get in the way."

I bowed to her, "Thank you, Neo Queen Serenity. I am pleased to serve you."

But no one ever visited me. King Endymion stopped by now and then, but the visits were short and few and far between. All our meetings did was make my heart ache for Hikaru, the love I could never have. I loved him, in a way, but it was nothing I would ever act on. It was more of a sad, nostalgic love than one I would have pursued otherwise.

But there was one visit that changed my life. Endymion came, but so did his younger daughter. She had beautiful pink hair and gorgeous red eyes. "And who is this little darling!" I asked him excitedly.

"This is Small Lady," Endymion beamed. "She's six now, so I figured she could meet you. Small Lady, what do you say?"

The wide-eyed girl looked at her father before turning to me and bowing, "Hello, Sailor Pluto. I am Small Lady, Tsukino Usagi. It's an honor to meet you."

I smiled so wide that my cheeks began to ache almost immediately, and I scooped her up in my arms. "Oh, you are the most adorable. Look at you! You look so much like your mother."

The young girl giggled and began to play with a piece of my hair. "Your hair is... it's... green! And how come your skin is darker than mine?"

"Because I'm from a different planet!" I said back to her. She was absolutely perfect. "And your hair is _pink_! We're both unique, aren't we?"

"I guess so." She stared down at the piece of my hair that she was holding and seemed lost in thought for a moment. "I love you, Puu."

My heart practically melted. "I get a nickname already? Aren't you just the best?"

I had forgotten that Endymion was there until he spoke, "You already get an 'I love you'? I didn't hear it until a year after she learned how to talk!"

"But papa!" Small Lady contested, "It's Puu. She's special."

I wanted to cry. It had been so long since someone thought I was important. Small Lady was only a child, and it was typical of them to assign more importance to some rather than others, but it meant so much to me. I pulled her closer to me and looked at the King, "Yeah, I'm _special_, King Endymion!" Small Lady laughed at that, and so did the King.

"I'm going to let you two go ahead and get acquainted," he said, turning towards the Door. "Which you've already done, but I'll give you more time. I'll be back in a few hours, okay?"

"Sounds great! She's safe with me." I told him excitedly as I set Small Lady down. He walked through the door, disappearing into the 30th century, and I joined Small Lady on the ground. She started telling me stories about her mother and father, and the four soldiers who protected them, and the specifics of Crystal Tokyo.

I finally had a companion after years of being alone. She was young and she had so much to offer the world. She looked at me with the happiest, brightest red eyes, and I felt a void in my heart become filled. "I'm going to visit you all of the time!" She promised, and something in me knew she really would. I enveloped the child in my arms once again, and my heart was full, and for once, I was happy. Queen Serenity was right. I did find a way to cope, I found a way to be unstoppable, and it rested in the eyes of a sister I never had.


End file.
